During high school, Molly Drumm loved acting in theater productions. Yet, after she graduated from Johns Creek High School, she realized she didn’t really have a place where she could perform anymore. Fortunately, with Jerry’s Habima Theatre, she has been able to return to her passion for stage work.
The 22-year-old actress plays the titular role in the company’s version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella: Youth Edition, running March 9 through 19 at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta’s (MJCCA) Morris & Rae Frank Theatre. The production is part of the company’s 30th anniversary as the state’s only professional theater company featuring actors with special needs, giving performers such as Drumm the opportunity to work in shows alongside professional actors.
Originated by the Marcus Jewish Community Center, Habima’s debut came in 1992 with Tom Stoppard’s The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, and the company has staged work almost every year since.
Habima’s founding artistic producer Kim Goodfriend recalls that show vividly, not just the boldness in staging the initial production but the challenging material as well. Local actress Deadra Moore directed. “She was the first person to say yes,” says Goodfriend. “We have had a cavalcade of Atlanta area royalty since — Bryan Mercer, Dina Shadwell, Sherri Sutton, Clint Thornton, Mary Nye Bennett. Every director that has come in was given the go-ahead to take a chance.”
A lot has changed since those early days, however. While the company’s guidelines have remained the same — reinforcing that Habima is a theater program, not a social program — what is different is the actors. “In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, we did not have a lot of people with developmental disabilities bagging groceries, working in bakeries, throwing newspapers and doing vocational things,” Goodfriend says. “There were a lot of people living in group homes who were not going to high school. We were not confident about memorization and vocalization but kept at it.” These days, Habima actors are asked to learn their lines — and are capable of the task.
While Drumm is making her Habima debut with Cinderella, the company — named for the late Gerald (Jerry) Blonder, who established an endowment with his wife for the MJCCA’s Blonder Family Department for Special Needs — features a number of performers who have been with the company consistently over the years, such as Linda Danzig, Mark Benator and Luke Davis. Some of the notable productions have included Oklahoma!, The Addams Family and Little Shop of Horrors.
Shadwell started directing at Habima in 2001 and staged over a dozen shows. Although she has worked all over the city, she calls her work at the company her “favorite thing.”
When she began, the company had been relying on ear prompters or people in the orchestra pit feeding (performers) lines. “We pushed them to take on more,” Shadwell recalls. “We kept challenging them and expecting them to learn their lines — and they did.”
One of her memorable directorial gigs was the musical Honk! It was the first time an actor with a disability — Michael Silver, who has Down Syndrome — had such a large role that carried the entire show. “It was so moving to see his character transform from being ‘different’ to being confident and comfortable in his own skin (or feathers).”
Being in a company of fellow actors is important for these performers. “A lot of people with disabilities don’t have access to social opportunities, so coming together five nights a week for three months [for rehearsals] — they love it. The performers get to see their friends and hate for it to end,” Shadwell adds.
Since her work with Habima, it’s become a mission for Shadwell to create more opportunities in the arts for people with disabilities. “The work Habima does touches hearts and changes lives. Not just of the actors but the audience members who consistently come out of performances moved.”
The greatest misconception new attendees have towards the work Habima stages, is that they feel they might leave at intermission — or are afraid to laugh at certain moments, even if the material is funny. Yet the work continually surprises them, Shadwell and Goodfriend agree. “For audiences, they often cannot believe what they have just seen on stage,” says Shadwell. “The actors are stretching beyond their comfort zone.”
The youth version of Cinderella is much shorter in terms of length and songs. It’s directed by Matt McCubbin, who has been a choreographer with the company for a few years.
Lead actress Drumm realized how much she missed theater after high school and was happy to be making a return to her craft at Habima. She loves her character’s independence. “I like how she doesn’t let anything get her down,’ says Drumm. “She has a really mean stepfamily, and she still manages to find joy even though they are mean to her all the time.”
Goodfriend feels Habima is a place where someone with special needs isn’t special. Everyone here is part of the ensemble. “The work is not about you and what you need; it’s about creating something together,” she says. “It’s not your show. It is the director’s show.”
The company has worked together to remove support systems. Once a rehearsal starts, caregivers and parents are not allowed in the room, and performers have to rely on each other and their stage managers and other crew. “I believe that there isn’t any sort of camp or program that puts everyone together moving toward the same target. You develop relationships that you wouldn’t have had. You take risks and are laying yourself bare.”
Being involved with Habima also instills confidence. “I imagine Molly, because she can sing and memorize lines, had some featured roles in her high school but was never going to be the princess, the ingenue. And she comes here and could not believe it — that she was Cinderella.”
Goodfriend will never forget the special moment she took Drumm backstage to see her gown, measured and fitted especially for her by a professional costumer. “This isn’t just her parents or her peer group. This is a group of people who say she matters, and we want to hear from her. I hope that there is a muscle memory that goes with that.”
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Jim Farmer covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival. He lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig, and dog, Douglas.
